No fare: Vancouver taxi driver calls for end to queue-jumping bribe scheme

Taxi driver Harpreet Singh has filed a letter of complaint with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s office about the ‘$5 network.’Photo by

A small clique of drivers at Vancouver Taxi is being accused of bribing hotel staff to direct long-haul YVR airport trips their way, in return for small but regular payments.

Termed a “$5 airport trip,” the fee is paid to door men or front desk staff who are asked by hotel guests to call them a cab. Instead of using the established taxi dispatch system, the staff call numbers operated by a network of drivers, who then hand them a cash reward.

By doing so, the bribing drivers queue-jump colleagues who have to wait in line for regular trips, most of which involve lower-paying short-haul trips.

Both the Vancouver Taxi Association and Vancouver Taxi say they are aware of the problem and have tried to stop it. But now the issue has reached Mayor Gregor Robertson’s office. On Monday he received a detailed letter from a young cabbie who says the practice may actually be illegal.

For two summers Harpreet Singh, 27, has leased a cab in order to pay his way through dental college. He grew angry last week when he went to pick up a fare at a small downtown hotel, only to discover that the ride was diverted to a member of the so-called “$5 network.” It was the second time he’d seen this happen, and he said other drivers have complained without results.

In this case, he said, even a Vancouver Taxi dispatcher appears to have taken part. Singh and another driver were dispatched to a hotel, but the call was abruptly cancelled. Two members of the shadowy network showed up and paid the hotel staff the bribe, scooping both his ride and that of another driver, Singh said.

In a detailed letter to the mayor, Singh said the practice had got so far out of hand that some drivers are picking up fares in back alleys behind hotels to avoid being confronted by angry taxi colleagues. Some also are falsifying trip records to avoid paying taxes, he said.

Singh identified several drivers by their cab numbers but provided no names. However, John Palis, the general manager of Vancouver Taxi, confirmed to The Vancouver Sun he was aware of the queue-jumping and bribery practice and that the company had warned several drivers to cease.

But Singh said the practice is alive and well.

“To go unnoticed of the lucrative earnings and to avoid paying excessive taxes, these taxicab drivers zero the taxi meter and do not hand in a trip at the end of the shift as required per law,” Singh said in his letter to the mayor.

“This network has rigged the whole taxi industry of Vancouver. Many drivers are disgruntled and distraught of raising their voices over and over again and lack of effort from (Vancouver Taxi) board of management. In simple terms, it’s unfair for the taxicab drivers, the consumers, and most of all the City of Vancouver.”

Robertson’s office said it was looking into the issue.

“This is the first we’ve heard of this issue. The mayor’s office has asked city staff to look into it and discuss the complaints with the taxi company in question, to ensure they resolve the issue with their drivers appropriately,” said Kevin Quinlan, the mayor’s director of policy and communications.

Sgt. Randy Fincham said the Vancouver Police Department’s taxi licensing division will also look into the allegations.

Vancouver Taxi Association president Carolyn Bauer said her group, which represents the four city taxi companies (Black Top, Yellow, Vancouver and MacLure’s), has tried to stop such bribery in the past. She said it is largely confined to small hotels and always involves long-haul trips.

“When it was brought to the attention of the Vancouver Taxi Association, we said it was not acceptable, and we took it to the board of Vancouver Taxi, which also said it must stop,” she said. “We even went to some of the hotels, telling them they had to get their doormen to stop accepting these payments.”

Palis said his company does not condone the scheme. The company will censure, suspend and even dismiss drivers who may be undermining the regular dispatch system. But it is difficult to get a handle on the problem because the scheme is largely being run through cellular telephones, he said.

“It has become a problem at times. How big this network has got I don’t know but we have tried to clamp down,” he said. “This doesn’t involve any of the large hotels. They wouldn’t tolerate it.”

The Hotel Association of Vancouver said it has not heard of the practice before and is looking into it.

In an interview, Singh said unlike a tip from a customer, the payment amounts to a bribe because the money is not reported and it is an inducement to direct business away from a previous business arrangement.

“It is not fair for other cabbies and the taxi industry in general, because only a certain few individuals are benefiting while others have to wait in line and suffer,” he said, adding that in New York drivers and dispatchers faced criminal charges in a similar scheme.

“It may not be illegal here, I don’t know. But they (the city) can make it illegal to take bribes,” he said.

Singh said he is being supported by other drivers who are also angry but who do not speak English well enough to write a letter of complaint.

Bauer said some cab companies, such as Yellow and Black Top, pay hotels a few hundred dollars a month for the right to operate a stand on their property. They also don’t like it when other drivers come along and try to scoop passengers.

All four companies are required as a condition of city licensing to abide by the provincial TaxiHost program, which allows them to censure or fine drivers who misbehave. Both Palis and Bauer, who is also the general manager of Yellow, said they will give a “Code 6” warning to queue-jumping driver on the first offence. The penalty knocks the driver off the dispatch system for up to four hours. Repeat offenders can be suspended or dismissed, they said.

But Singh said members of the $5 network are operating with impunity because most drivers don’t catch on to what has happened until it is too late.

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